In one of the most iconic idle animations, if the player does not interact with Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega, 1991), he will tap his foot and look annoyed at the player expecting to move (see Fig. 1). When the player releases the controllers, she delegates agency to idle animations that can be designed to show the personality or attitude of digital characters, whether they be a tap of a foot to express restiveness or a scratch of the neck to displace the tension of immobility. Existing literature about non-(inter)active pieces of animation in video games (Rogers, 2010; Alexandra, 2019; Ravenet, 2021; Cooper 2021) states that an idle animation needs the confluence of an animated playable character and a player in an inactive state. What most of these definitions also have in common is the consensus that an idle is the moment in a video game when an animation is triggered bythe player’s inactivity. Unless the gameplay provides an ‘escape’ button, these animations usually deny the player her agency. In other words, inactivity limits the player agency, while agency, along with interactivity and immersion, is one of the main specificities of video games (Aarseth, 2001; Ryan, 2001; Salen and Zimmerman, 2003).
Fig. 1. Idle Animation of Sonic in Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega, 1991).
As they cannot be manipulated by the player, idle animations offer a way to show who the characters ‘really’ are, with game design taking advantage of the player’s lack of agency. In that sense, the idle seems to refer to the original intentions of the video game designers. However, the same argument can be reversed, as demonstrated by the idea of of “player’s tyranny.” Raz Greenberg introduces this term to analyze the ways that players can “animate their characters beyond the developers’ intent” (Greenberg, 2021: 89). Greenberg points out the possibility of forcing gamers into the narrative path by manipulating the control lines: when these lines are surpassed, it leads to a game-over situation. The appeal of this insurrection has encouraged contemporary designers to supply in-game rebellion tools, an option that, as Greenberg claims, turns gamers into animators (Greenberg, 2021: 98).
However, another avenue for critical analysis would be to shift the focus from the agency of player’s control over the system to the agency of the player character.The idea that video game characters have enough agency to disobey the player during idle animations is also supported by other authors (Alexandra, 2019; Kuuranta, 2011;). Even though different conditions apply to video games and animated films), Markus Kuuranta (2011) draws parallels between agency expressed by video games characters and animated creatures, who have historically rebelled against their creators. When discussing traditional hand-drawn animation, Donald Crafton explains this insurgency through animation’s ontological self-awareness (Crafton, 2012). Specifically, self-reflexive jokes about animation’s production and consumptiona are at the heart of many animated shorts, including Duck Amuck (US 1953, Chuck Jones) and the Out of the Inkwell series by the Fleischer Studios (see Fig. 2+3). The hand-and-pencil motif, so scattered along the first animations (Crafton 2012: 105), is a commonplace to show the audience the craftsmanship as much as the artificiality of giving life to a drawn figure.
Fig. 2. Still image from KoKo’s Earth Control, directed by Max Fleischer, 1928.
Fig. 3. Still image of Duck Amuck, directed by Chuck Jones, 1953.
The insurgency expressed when video games characters go idle because of a lack of interaction offers a similar self-aware moment to characters’ rebellion in early animations. In this respect, many idles incorporate the action of breaking the fourth wall to let the player know that it is time to take back control. In addition to the early example of Sonic the Hedgehog, another instance of such behaviour is Sparkster’s idle in the original Rocket Knight Adventures (Konami, 1993), where he removes his glasses and emanates a comic balloon that says: “Let’s go” to the inactive player (see Fig. 4). Given that controlling the agency of the player is a prominent design goal in video games, it reshapes the borders between the creatures and its creators, as it had happened in early animation characters rebelling against their masters. Therefore, I suggest that animators trying to dominate the character’s agency embody a similar trope of game designers trying to set control lines to a player character.
Fig. 4. Still image of Sparkster’s idle animation in Rocket Knight Adventures (Konami, 1993).
Finally, while often overlooked, idle animations enhance character development and player immersion into video games. Tools from character animation can help develop idle animations more fully, such as establishing a believable center of gravity or finding ways to express weight through the line of action or the arcs. Principles of 2D animation, like body mechanics, weight (exemplified by a tough character such as Ryu from the Street Fighter series) and timing (Ratchet’s fast movements in Ratchet and Clank), are essential for creating compelling idle animations. Another way to enhance idle animations is to convey a character’s personality through character animation and promote a stronger relationship with the environment. WALL-E offers an example of such idle animation when staying in the middle of a desert and after a few seconds of idleness, the robot protagonist displays solar panels from his armature in order to take advantage of the sun while waiting. In this way, animations can significantly enrich the game’s feel (Swink, 2009).
Therefore, by carefully balancing player agency and narrative control, new narratives could enable developers to create idle animations that enhance both gameplay and storytelling. Ranging from passive observation (with classic Mario Bros’ falling asleep idle animations) to full agency (when Sonic forces the game over, jumping from the platform if there is no player interaction), well-designed idle animation can seamlessly transition into active gameplay, providing an engaging narrative and relocating these animations to a more prominent position within the process of creating a video game.
Fig. 5-7. Still Images from the idle animation of Mario in Super Mario Bros (Nintendo, 1995).
References
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Alexandra, Heather (2019, May 6). The Quiet Importance of Idle Animations. Kotaku. https://kotaku.com/the-quiet-importance-of-idle-animations-1834564079.
Cooper, Jonathan (2021). Game Anim: Video Game Animation Explained. London: CRC Press.
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Maria Pagès holds a PhD in Animation from University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia, specializing in Spanish animation of the 1940s and 1950s, and is a senior lecturer in Animation at the Multimedia Image and Technology Center of Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, where she is also part of the Digital Culture and Creative Technologies Research Group (DiCode). She has organized two seminars, one in 2016 on Spanish animation pioneers and another in 2017 on Women in animation, as well as participated in several conferences about animation and gender perspective. In 2023, she received a grant to develop a documentary about pioneering Spanish female animator Pepita Pardell funded by the Catalan Institute of Cultural Enterprises, and her book Animation in Spain: Magic Tricks, Drawings on Cels, and CGI (2025) is published with Routledge. She is a member of the research group MESA (Women Studying Animation in Spanish).